Christian Cancer Center Hospital

The Christian Cancer Center at Kakinada, a city on the Bay of Bengal, about halfway up India’s eastern seashore, is satisfying a great need for medical care in India which has an estimated 3.3 times the number of cancer cases as the United States, but just over one tenth the number of teletherapy units as are available in America.

Twin Godavari districts are thickly populated. Not only rich and commercially active but also abuses of alcohol, and smoking is high, hence the incidence of cancer is also high. Though all types of cancers are very much common in both districts, head and neck cancers occur disproportionately, with 10% being registered in Kakinada. Cancer of the cervix is also disproportionately high. For this reason, on May 9, 1987 the Christian Cancer Center opened its doors to serve the people afflicted with cancer in the regions not only of the State of Andhra Pradesh, but in the neighboring states of Orissa, Tamilnadu and Karnatka.

Fourteen years of service has been credited with having brought in the first 780 C Cobalt Unit into the State. The Center has introduced a multidiscipline treatment approach namely surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy under one roof for effective cancer treatments that are cost effective and economical. Sixty percent of the patients are treated for free and the remainder on a sliding scale.

Into this new millennium, CCC hopes to develop again into a state of the art Cancer facility with Linear Accelerator, 3-D Planning System and Research Centre for the new chemotherapeutic drug treatments and evaluations.

The statistics for cancer of the cervix and head and neck in south India are still appalling with 665 women being diagnosed and treated at the Christian Cancer Center for cervical cancer in the year 2000 along with 441 head and neck cancer cases. Attempts at educating the population regarding prevention are ongoing, however, in many instances it is a cultural issue and it is difficult to convince the population to change their way of thinking.